Ipomoea Batatas Plant Named &#39;Fukumurasaki&#39;

ABSTRACT

‘Fukumurasaki’ is a new variety of sweet potato plant bred by crossbreeding variety ‘Kyukei255’ and ‘Purple Sweet Lord’. The plant may be used, e.g., for cultivation of root tubers for consumption. The steamed flesh of ‘Fukumurasaki’ has a purple color, high sugar content, medium to viscous flesh quality, and excellent taste.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority to Japanese Patent ApplicationNo. 33033 filed Apr. 16, 2018, the entire contents of which isincorporated herein for all purposes by this reference.

PLANT NAME AND VARIETY DENOMINATION

Latin name of the genus and species of the plant claimed: Ipomoeabatatas. The claimed plant is a hybridization of different varieties ofIpomoea batatas. Common names of the claimed plant's species: sweetpotato.

Variety denomination: ‘Fukumurasaki’.

BACKGROUND

Ipomoea batatas, commonly called sweet potato or sweet potato vine, is adicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning gloryfamily, Convolvulaceae. It is an herbaceous perennial that is cultivatedfor its edible root tubers. Ipomoea batatas is native to tropicalregions of the Americas.

BRIEF SUMMARY

‘Fukumurasaki’ is a new variety of Ipomoea batatas bred by crossbreedingvariety ‘Kyukei255’ as the female parent and ‘Purple Sweet Lord’ as themale parent. The plant may be used, e.g., for cultivation of root tubersfor consumption. Neither ‘Kyukei255’ nor ‘Purple Sweet Lord’ arepatented.

‘Fukumurasaki’ is a purple-colored lineage containing anthocyanins inits storage root. Although the yield of the good quality potatoes isinferior to that of ‘Kokei No. 14’ and ‘Purple Sweet Lord’, the steamedflesh of ‘Fukumurasaki’ has high sugar content, medium to viscous fleshquality, and excellent taste.

The flesh quality of the ‘Purple Sweet Lord’ is powdery and thesweetness is insufficient compared to the yellow flesh sweet potato.‘Fukumurasaki’ has a lower yield of good quality potatoes than ‘KokeiNo. 14’ and ‘Purple Sweet Lord,’ but has a medium to viscous fleshquality, and taste of the steamed flesh is medium to excellent. Becauseof the moderate resistance of ‘Fukumurasaki’ to sweet potato nematodesMeloidogyne incognita, cultivation in nematodes-rich areas should beavoided or controlled with pesticide or other measures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a photograph of ‘Fukumurasaki’ (left) leaves 3 months afterplanting compared to ‘Kokei No. 14’ (right).

FIG. 1B is a photograph of ‘Fukumurasaki’ (left) leaves 3 months afterplanting compared to ‘Purple Sweet Lord’ (right).

FIG. 2A is a photograph of ‘Fukumurasaki’ (left) root tuber andcross-section 5 months after planting compared to ‘Kokei No. 14’(right).

FIG. 2B is a photograph of ‘Fukumurasaki’ (left) root tuber andcross-section 5 months after planting compared to ‘Purple Sweet Lord’(right).

FIG. 3 is a photograph of the cultivation zone of ‘Fukumurasaki’ 3months after planting.

FIG. 4 is a photograph of the whole plant body of Fukumurasaki’ (left) 3months after planting compared to ‘Purple Sweet Lord’ (right).

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE PLANT

Variety: ‘Fukumurasaki’

Species of the plant claimed: Ipomoea batatas. The claimed plant is ahybridization of different varieties. The parental varieties arehybridization of different varieties.

Common names of the claimed plant's species include: sweet potato.

Characteristics of ‘Fukumurasaki’ provided herein were observed when theplant was cultivated in Okinawa and Satsuma, Japan. Descriptive termsused in Table 1 are consistent with the Japanese Examination Standardfor Ipomoea batatas, available at websitehinshu2.maff.go.jp/info/sinsakijun/kijun/1347.pdf, the entire contentsof which are incorporated herein by reference.

Properties and characteristics of ‘Fukumurasaki’, compared to the mostsimilar varieties, are described in Table 1. For designated colors, therecognized color dictionary or color chart used is the Fifth Edition(2007) of “The Royal Horticulture Society Color Chart (R.H.S.).”

TABLE 1 Properties and characteristics of ‘Fukumurasaki’ Class values ofRemarks Characteristic candidate variety (Measurement Class Values ofmost similar varieties No. Characteristics ‘Fukumurasaki’ Value etc.)‘Kokei No. 14’ ‘Purple Sweet Lord’  1 Plant: growth semi-uprightspreading spreading habit  2 Stem: length short 46.8 cm medium long ofprimary (106.2 cm) (157.4 cm) shoots and lateral branch  3 Stem: lengthof short 2.6 cm medium long internode and (5.1 cm) (8.5 cm) lateralbranch  4 Stem: large 7.65 mm medium to medium to large diameter oflarge (6.67 mm) internode and (6.50 mm) lateral branch  5 Stem: weakabsent or very weak anthocyanin weak coloration of internode and lateralbranch  6 Stem: weak absent or very weak anthocyanin weak coloration oftip and lateral branch  7 Stem: medium absent or very strong anthocyaninweak coloration of node and lateral branch  8 Stem: dense sparse sparsepubescence of tip  9 Leaf blade: large 250.1 cm² medium medium to largesize (160.9 cm²) (218.7 cm²) 10 Leaf blade: five lobes absent absentnumber of lobes 11 Only varieties — cordate triangular without leafblade lobes: Leaf blade: shape 12 Only varieties moderate — — with leafblade lobes: Leaf blade: depth of lobing 13 Excluding green 136A of RHSGreen (136B Green (136B of ornamental of RHS) RHS) variety: Leaf blade:color on upper side (excluding anthocyanin coloration) 19 Excludingabsent or very absent or very absent or very ornamental weak weak weakvariety: Leaf blade: anthocyanin coloration on upper side 20 Leaf blade:absent or very small large extent of small anthocyanin coloration onabaxial veins on lower side 21 Leaf blade: very weak very weak weakintensity of anthocyanin coloration on abaxial veins on lower side 22Leaf blade: absent or very absent or very strong anthocyanin weak weakcoloration of nectary 23 Young leaf dark green N189A of light green darkgreen (N189A blade: main color RHS (137A of of RHS) on upper side RHS)24 Young leaf medium green N137A of light green medium green blade: maincolor RHS (138A of (N137A of RHS) on lower side RHS) 25 Petiole: absentor very absent or very absent or very anthocyanin weak weak weakcoloration 26 Petiole: length medium 24.4 cm medium medium to long (22.4cm) (26.7 cm) 27 Corolla: — — — diameter 28 Corolla: color — — — 29Storage root: shape ovate elliptic oblong 30 Storage root: moderately4.6 moderately medium ratio elongated elongated (2.9) length/width (4.0)31 Storage root: medium 3.8 storage medium medium number roots/plant(3.1 storage (3.9 storage roots/plant) roots/plant) 32 Storage root:medium 142 g medium medium to large mean weight (146 g) (182 g) 33Storage root: thick 0.072 medium medium thickness of cortex (0.055)(0.052) relative to overall diameter 34 Storage root: purple red 59C ofRHS red (182A of purple red (71B main color of skin RHS) of RHS) 35Storage root: absent absent absent secondary color of skin 36 Storageroot: purple N77B of light beige Purple (71C of main color of flesh RHS(155D of RHS) RHS) 37 Storage root: medium medium medium intensity ofmain color of flesh 38 Storage root: white N155B of — White (N155B ofsecondary RHS RHS) color of flesh 39 Storage root: shallow medium mediumdepth of eyes 40 Storage root: purple N186B of light beige (2C lightpurple (79D color of HRS of RHS) of RHS) steamed flesh 41 Southernroot-knot moderately moderately strong nematode strong weak(Pratylenchus caffeae) resistance N/A Original color Green 138B of RHSGreen (138B Green (138B of of lateral branch of RHS) RHS) N/A Length ofLeaf 15.9 cm 13.0 cm 15.5 cm N/A Width of Leaf 15.7 cm 12.3 cm 14.0 cmN/A Original color Green 138B of RHS Green (138B Green (138B of ofpetiole of RHS) RHS)

Cross-breeding was carried out in 2004 in Miyazaki prefucture, Japan.From 2005 onwards, selection and breeding were carried out in Japan.Based on the result of seedling individual selection test in 2005, alineage was selected which showed excellent in appearance and roottuberization, and gave the lineage number of ‘Kyukei 04008-3’.Thereafter, they were used for the lineage selection preliminary test in2006, the lineage selection test in 2007, and the productivity checkpreliminary test in 2008. As a result of examining variouscharacteristics, we selected a lineage with excellent color of flesh andexcellent characteristics of the steamed flesh, from ‘Kyukei 04008-3’,and gave the lineage number of ‘Kyukei 288’. And, since 2009, aproductivity check test, a lineage adaptability test (Nagasaki, Ehime,etc.), a black rot (Ceratocystis fimbriata) resistance test (Nagasaki),and a damping-off resistance test (Tokushima) have been carried out,with the lineage number of ‘Kyukei 288’. Finally, ‘Fukumurasaki’ wasselected by comprehensively examining the results of these tests.

Morphological Characteristic

The plant growth habit in a field is the “semi-upright” type, and lengthof primary shoots and the length of internode of the stem are shorterand the diameter of internode is slightly larger than the ‘Kokei No. 14’and the ‘Purple Sweet Lord’.

The coloration of ‘Fukumurasaki’ internode is “weak” and the colorationof node is “weak to medium”, the color on upper side of young leaf is“dark green” (N189A of RHS) and the color on back side of young leaf is“green” (N137A of RHS), the leaf color is “green” (136A of RHS), theleaf size is “large”, the number of lobes in leaf blade is “5”, and theleaf shape according to the old reference is “double-incision”.

The extent of the coloration on abaxial veins on lower side of the leafis “absent or very small”, the intensity of the coloration of the sameis “very weak”, and the coloration of the nectary is “absent or veryweak”. The arrangement of the leaves is alternate.

The strength of the storage root's neck and the position of the storageroot (same as depth from the field surface to storage root) are“medium”, and the difficulty of digging (harvesting) the storage root(same as root tuber) is “medium”. The shape of storage root is “ovate”in the new standard and “long spindle” in the old standard.

Shape regularity of storage roots is “moderate”; size of storage rootsis “medium”; size regularity of storage roots is “medium”, mean lengthof storage roots is 19.7 cm±3.0 cm and mean width of storage roots is4.4 cm±0.4 cm; skin color of storage root is “purple red” (59C of RHS);flesh color is “purple” (N77B of RHS); depth of eye in storage root is“shallow”; skin roughness of storage root is “slightly coarse”; groovesand ridges of storage root are “absent”; dehiscence of storage root is“little”; appearance is “medium”.

At earlier harvest timing under cultivation with mulching sheet, thetotal weight of good quality storage roots of ‘Fukumurasaki’ is about60% of that of ‘Kokei No. 14’. Under later-planting-timing cultivationwithout mulching sheet, the total weight of good quality storage rootsis about 60% of that of ‘Kokei No. 14’. The mean weight of one goodquality storage roots is lower than that of ‘Kokei No. 14’. The numberof good quality storage roots per one plant is equivalent to that of‘Kokei No. 14’. The percentage of dry matter content is about 5 pointshigher (at the earlier harvest timing), and about 7 points higher (underlater-planting-timing cultivation) than those of ‘Kokei No. 14’. Table 2below contains mean numerical values for characteristics of the goodquality storage roots.

TABLE 2 ‘Purple Sweet Cultivation method Characteristic ‘Fukumurasaki’‘Kokei No. 14’ Lord’ Standard cultivation Weight of the 201 kg/a 249kg/a — with black mulching good quality sheet storage roots Mean weightof 127 g 192 g 194 g one good quality storage root No. of good  4.2  3.5 4.2 quality storage roots per plant Percentage of  37.2%  31.6% — drymatter content Cultivation with Weight of the 104 kg/a 163 kg/a —transparent mulching good quality sheet at earlier storage roots harvesttiming Mean weight of  85 g 131 g — one good quality storage root No. ofgood  3.1  3.3 — quality storage roots per plant Percentage of  36.4% 31.5% — dry matter content Later-planting Weight of the 107 kg/a 173kg/a — timing cultivation good quality without mulching storage rootsMean weight of 106 g 154 g — one good quality storage root No. of good 2.7  3.0 — quality storage roots per plant Percentage of  34.6%  27.6%— dry matter content

Ecological Characteristics

The timing (early or late) of sprouting of ‘Fukumurasaki’ from storageroot, the timing regularity of sprouting from different storage roots(almost simultaneous or not), the speed of sprout elongation, and thenumber of sprouts are “medium”, mean numerical value 8-10 sprouts, andthe sprouting trait (same as sprouting habit) is “medium”.

On average, the total weight of the good quality storage roots is 19%lower than that of ‘Kokei No. 14’. The mean weight of one good qualitystorage roots is lower than that of ‘Kokei No. 14’ and ‘Purple SweetLord’. The number of good quality storage roots per one ‘Fukumurasaki’plant is slightly larger than that of the ‘Kokei No. 14’ and equivalentto that of the ‘Purple Sweet Lord’. The percentage of dry matter contentis about 5.6 points higher than that of ‘Kokei No. 14’.

The resistance of ‘Fukumurasaki’ to sweet potato nematodes (M.incognita) is “medium” and the resistance to Minami root-lesionnematodas (P. coffeae) is “moderately strong”. The resistance to blackrot (Ceratocystis fimbriata) disease is “medium to strong”. Theresistance to damping-off is “slightly weak to slightly strong”, and theresistance to stem rot (Fusarium oxysporum f, sp. batatas) is “strong”.Storability of storage root is “medium”.

Regarding temperature tolerance of ‘Fukumurasaki,’ the preferabletemperature for growth is 16 degrees Celsius or higher. More preferably,the temperature for growth is 20-35 degrees Celsius. Temperatures under9 degrees Celsius can sometimes cause low-temperature damage to theplant.

Quality Characteristics and Processability

In standard cultivation, the steamed flesh color of the ‘Fukumurasaki’storage root is “purple” (N186B of RHS), fibers in steamed flesh is“medium”, and the quality of flesh is “medium”. The taste of steamed orroasted storage root is “somewhat superior” and Brix is higher than‘Kokei No. 14’ and ‘Purple Sweet Lord’.

Other Characteristics

Brix of ‘Fukumurasaki’ steamed storage root is higher than ‘Kokei No.14’ and ‘Purple Sweet Lord’ in both the cultivation with transparentmulching sheet at earlier harvest timing and the later-planting-timingcultivation without mulching. For standard cultivation with blackmulching sheet, Brix numerical values are as follows. Brix for steamedstorage root is 24.8% for ‘Fukumurasaki,’ 16.6% for ‘Kokei No. 14,’ and13.4% for ‘Purple Sweet Lord.’ Brix for roasted storage root is 24.7%for ‘Fukumuraksi,’ 17.5% for ‘Kokei No. 14,’ and 14.7% for ‘Purple SweetLord.’ For cultivation with transparent mulching sheet at earlierharvest timing, Brix numerical values are as follows. Brix for steamedstorage root is 19.6% for ‘Fukumurasaki,’ 16.3% for ‘Kokei No. 14,’ and13.8% for ‘Purple Sweet Lord.’ For later-planting-timing cultivationwithout mulching, Brix numerical values are as follows. Brix for steamedstorage root is 19.5% for ‘Fukumurasaki,’ 15.3% for ‘Kokei No. 14,’ and16.2% for ‘Purple Sweet Lord.’

The taste of ‘Fukumurasaki’ steamed storage root is “medium” under thecultivation with transparent mulching sheet at earlier harvest timing,and “slightly higher” under the later-planting-timing cultivationwithout mulching.

In October, 2016, samples (storage roots) cultivated in the field in thecity of Namegata were stored for about 70 days, and then each sample wasroasted at 200° C. for 1 hour to prepare roasted samples (roasted sweetpotatoes), and sensory evaluation by panelists was carried out.‘Fukumurasaki’ was more viscous than ‘Purple Sweet Lord’ in terms ofroasted flesh quality, superior in texture and sweetness, and‘Fukumurasaki’ exceeded ‘Purple Sweet Lord’ in overall evaluation.

‘Fukumurasaki’ was grown in open culture. In Japan, planting occurs inthe early part of May to the end part of May. In Japan harvesting timeis the middle part of October to the end part of October.

It will be understood that the average size of the plant and storageroot may vary with location, season, nutrition, irrigation, etc.

What is claimed is:
 1. A new and distinct Ipomoea batatas plant named‘Fukumurasaki’ as illustrated and described.